Moroccan Film ’Sofia’ to Screen at Israeli Middle East Film Festival

"Creating a cultural bridge between Israeli society and the neighboring societies of the Middle East, by intensifying their relations." This is the vision of this Middle East Film Festival in Jerusalem, recalled by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its Facebook page called "Israel Speaks Arabic".

The films of this festival come from Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia and Algeria, reports the site hmoroccojewishtimes.com. Sofia has already been programmed at the Israeli Film Festival in Haifa last year and sparked a lively controversy at the time, forcing Meryem Ben Mbarek to withdraw from the festival. The director had then been accused of cultural normalization with [Israel].

This film tells the story of a young woman who lives with her parents in Casablanca and has a love affair with a young man. This is followed by an out-of-wedlock pregnancy and, despite social pressures, she went through with it and gave birth to her baby. The hospital administration then demanded to meet the child’s father. Unable to bring him, she will be imprisoned.

Sofia is the first feature film by director Mbareck, born in 1984 and raised between Belgium and France.